Golf ball dispensing apparatus



p 1961 D. SIMON 3,000,537

GOLF BALL DISPENSING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 1, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR.

Dave Simon ATTORNEY Sept. 19, 1961 D. SIMON 3,000,537

GOLF BALL DISPENSING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 1, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR.

Dave Simon AT TO RNE Y Sept. 19, 1961 Filed-Dec. 1, 1958 DL SIMON GOLFBALL DISPENSING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

Dave Simon 'MW ATTORNEY 3,000,537 GOIE BALL DISPENSING APPARATUS DaveSuper 74 Wensley Drive, Great Neck, N.Y. Filed Dec. 1, 1958, Ser. No.777,414 10 Claims. 01. 221-7) This invention relates to dispensingapparatus and, more particularly, to novel coin-controlled apparatus fordeliverymg a pre-set number of golf balls to a patron of a dllVlIlgrange or the like.

Many golfers practice driving at driving ranges Where,

for a fixed fee, the golfer receives a pre-set number of balls to drive.Originally, a bucket of balls was furnished to a patron by an attendantbut, with the sharp increase in labor costs, there is a demand forautomatic apparatus for del1vering balls to the patron responsive toinsertion of a com. However, the automatic devices so far proposed havebeen unsatisfactory from the standpoints of first cost, maintenance, andsimplicity of operation. In accordance with the present invention, asimple and rnexpensive golf ball dispenser is provided including ahousing having a side door for charging a supply of balls onto a gravitychute extending toward an end of the housing. When a coin is inserted ina coin control device, a motor is energized to drive an endless chaincarrying two sets of buckets for picking up golf balls from the chute,the buckets riding along support rails. At the upper end of theconveyor, the balls are dumped by the buckets onto gravity feed chutesleading to a transversely extending gravity trough.

As each ball is discharged from a bucket, it operates a switch connectedto a counter, so that the motor circuit is opened when a pre-set numberof balls have been discharged into the trough. The trough delivers theballs through a side opening in the housing into a cage-type trackcomprising plural wires or rods secured to circumferentially spacedlocations on the inner peripheries of wire or rod n'ngs having diametersin excess of that of the golf balls. This track is a gravity feed trackon a side wall of the housing and delivers the balls against a stopwhere the patron may pick up one ball at a time.

For an understanding of the invention principles, reference is made tothe following description of a typical embodiment thereof as illustratedin the accompanying drawing. In the drawing:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are side elevation and top plan views,.

respectively, of the dispensing apparatus of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of the coin control;

FIG. 4 is an end elevation View of the coin control at line 4-4 of FIG.3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the coin control on the line 5--5 of FIG.4;

FIG. 6 is a transverse sectional view of the ball delivery track;

FIG. 7 is a view, similar to FIG. 1, partly broken away to illustrateinternals of the apparatus;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the conveyor;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the counter switches;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the gravity feed chutes and troughs;

FIG. 11 is a somewhat schematic side elevation view of the conveyor; and

FIG. 12 is a schematic wiring diagram of the apparatus.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 7, the golf ball dispensing apparatusincludes a housing 15 having side walls 16 and a peaked top wall 17. Oneside wall 16 has a door 18 therein by means of which golf balls 20 maybe charged into the apparatus and onto the upper front end of arearwardly and downwardly sloping chute 21 (FIG. 7). The balls 20 at thelower end of chute 21 are picked up by buckets on an endless conveyor 25from which the balls are discharged onto a chute or slide which deliversthe Patented Sept. 19, 1961 "ice balls laterally of housing 15 fordischarge through an opening 22 in wall 16. The balls discharged throughopening 22 fall onto a track 30 mounted on side wall 16 and slopingforwardly and downwardly. The patron picks balls 20 one at a time from aholding space 31 at the lower end of track 30.

Delivery of balls 20 to the patron is controlled by a coin device 35shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 and 7. Coin device 35 includes side wall sections36 and end wall section 37 hinged to one side wall 16 and overlappingthe side walls 16 and rear end wall of housing 15. Internal partitions38 in device 35 seat on peaked top wall 17 of housing 15. A side wall 41of device 35 is hinged to the upper edge of one wall of section 36, anda combined side and top wall 42 is integral with the other side wallsection 36. Elements 41 and 42 are normally locked to each other by alock 40.

The top wall portion 43 of element 42 carries coin insertion means 44,and rear wall 45 of device 35 has a coin return 46. Side Wall 41 carriesindicating lamps 47.

When a coin of the proper denomination is inserted in device 35, a motor23 is energized to drive conveyor 25. As best seen in FIGS. 8 and 11,conveyor 25 comprises an endless chain 24 trained over sprockets 26, theupper one of which is drivingly connected to motor 23. The shafts ofsprockets 26 are rotatably mounted in spaced partitions 27, 28 withincasing 15.

At spaced intervals along its length, chain 24 has buckets 50 securedthereto. Each bucket 50 includes a channel section 51 embracing parallelvertical rails 52. Forked carriers 55 form part of buckets 50, arrangedalternately on opposite sides of chain 24, and carriers 55 ride alongvertical guide surfaces 53 having curved upper ends 54.

The balls on chute 21 roll onto a platform 56 having fingers 57extending into the forks 55, the forks 55 straddling these fingers asbuckets 50 begin their upward move-' ment. Thereby, the buckets 50,particularly carriers 55, pick up balls 20 from fingers 57.

At the upper end of conveyor 25, and as the carriers 55 begin theirdownward movement, the carriers straddle fingers 61 of a slopingtransfer surface 60 mounted between partitions 27, 28. Transfer surface60 has a depending vertical wall 62 (FIG. 10) secured to a flange 63 ofa transversely extending trough 65 having a rear wall 64. The balls 20are thus dumped onto ramp 60 and roll by gravity into trough 65.

As each ball 20 rolls down ramp 60, it kicks the operator 71 of a switch70, one of which is mounted on each partition 27, 28 as best seen inFIGS. 8 and 9. Switches 70 are connected to a counter shownschematically (in FIG. 12) and, after the switches have been kicked orimpulsed a pre-set number of times, motor 23 is deenergized. Thisresults in delivery of the same pre-set number of balls 20 to track 30.

Trough 65 extends through an opening 66 in partition 28, where itconnects to a second trough, which may be integral with trough 65,leading to opening 22.

The track 30, receiving balls 20 at opening 22, has a shape which may betermed an open tube. Thus, track 30 comprises elongated rods 32extending through rings 33 (FIG. 6), having a diameter greater than thatof balls 20. Rods 32 are welded or brazed to circumferentially spacedpoints on the coaxial rings 33. Thus, balls 20 are caged in track 30. Anabutment or stop, 34, at the lower is engaged with a contact 76,connecting a green lamp 47A across conductors 77. Lamp 47A bears thelegend Deposit Quarters Only.

The apparatus may be set to operate with any predetermined number ofcoins, for example four (4) coins. As each coin 100 is dropped into acoin chute 44 of 'device 35, it momentarily closes a switch 48. Eachclosure of switch 48 impulses the coil 86 of a coin meter 85 and thestepping coil 91 of an accumulator 90 having a re-set coil 92. After apre-set number of coin engendered impulses, accumulator 90 closes switch81 to energize re-set coil 82 of stepper 80. Stepper 8G is reset to zeroto close switch 93 to energize re-set coil 92 of the accumulator (onclosure of a switch 70), and to transfer switch arm 75 to engage contact78.

Motor 23 and red lamp 47B are thus energized. Conveyor 25 starts, tolift the balls and deposit them onto ramp 65. Each time a ball trips aswitch 70, a coil 96 of a ball count meter 95 is impulsed and a steppercounter coil 83 is impulsed. When the predetermined number of balls hasthus been counted, stepper 80 transfers switch arm 25 to engage contact76, deene-rgizing motor 23 and red lamp 478, and lighting green lamp47A.

The described apparatus comprises a simple and inexpensive arrangementfor delivering a pre-set number of balls 20 to space 31 each time a coinis inserted in device 35.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed in detail to illustrate the application of the inventionprinciples, it will be understood that the invention may be embodiedotherwise without departing from such principles.

What is claimed is:

1. Coin-controlled apparatus operable, responsive to insertion of acoin, to deliver a pre-set number of golf balls to a patron of a drivingrange or the like, said apparatus comprising, in combination, arelatively elongated ramp; an upwardly extending endless conveyor at thelower end of said ramp; buckets on said conveyor arranged to liftindividual balls from said ramp; a driving motor for said conveyorhaving an energizing circuit; means operable responsive to insertion ofa coin in the apparatus, to close said energizing circuit; gravity feeddelivery means receiving balls from the upper end of said conveyor andextending to a ball delivery station longitudinally adjacent the upperend of said ramp; and counting means operable by balls travelling alongsaid delivery means and effective to open the energizing circuit of saidmotor after a pre-set number of operations by such balls.

2. Coin-controlled apparatus operable, responsive to insertion of acoin, to deliver a pre-set number of golf balls to a patron of a drivingrange or the like, said apparatus comprising, in combination, arelatively elongated ramp extending longitudinally of the apparatus; anupwardly extending endless conveyor at the lower end of said ramp;buckets on said conveyor arranged to lift individual balls from saidramp; a driving motor for said conveyor having an energizing circuit;means operable, responsive to insertion of a coin in the apparatus, toclose said energizing circuit; gravity feed delivery means receivingballs from the upper end of said conveyor and extending transversely andlongitudinally of the apparatus to a ball delivery stationlongitudinally adjacent the upper end of said ramp; and counting meansoperable by balls travelling along said delivery means and effective toopen the energizing circuit of said motor after a pre-set number ofoperations by such balls.

3. Coin-controlled apparatus operable, responsive to insertion of acoin, to deliver a pre-set number of golf balls to a patron of a drivingrange or the like, said apparatus comprising, in combination, arelatively elongated housing including opposite side wallsinterconnected by a top wall; a relatively elongated ramp Within saidhous ing extending downwardly toward the rear end thereof; a ballcharging opening in one side wall at the upper end of said ramp; anupwardly extending endless conveyor at the lower end of said ramp Withinsaid housing; buckets on said conveyor arranged to lift individual ballsfrom said ramp; a driving motor for said conveyor having an energizingcircuit; means operable, responsive to insertion of a coin in theapparatus, to close said energizing circuit; gravity feed delivery meansreceiving balls from the upper end of said conveyor and extending to aball delivery station, said delivery means including a trough extendinglaterally of said housing, adjacent the descending run of said conveyor,to an opening in said one side wall, and a track extending downwardlyand forwardly along the outer surface of said one side wall to saiddelivery station; and counting means operable by balls travelling alongsaid delivery means and effective to open the energizing circuit of saidmotor after a pre-set number of operations by such balls.

4. Golf ball delivery apparatus as claimed in claim 3 in which saidbuckets comprise outwardly projecting forked carriers, and the lower endof said ramp has finger means extending into the fork of said carriers.

5. Golf ball delivery apparatus as claimed in claim 3 in which saidbuckets comprise outwardly projecting forked carriers each mounted on achannel shape shoe secured to said conveyor; and guide rail meansadjacent the ascending run of said carrier embraced by said shoes.

6. Golf ball delivery apparatus as claimed in claim 5 in whichsuccessive carriers are ofiset laterally in opposed directions from theassociated shoes to provide two laterally spaced series of carriers; andlower end of said ramp has a pair of laterally spaced fingers eachextending into the forks of a different series of carriers.

7. Golf ball delivery apparatus as claimed in claim 6 including a secondramp at the upper end of said conveyor extending rearwardly anddownwardly into said trough, and having a pair of laterally spacedfingers each extending into the forks of a different series of carriers.

8. Golf ball delivery apparatus as claimed in claim 7 in which saidcounting means includes a pair of laterally spaced switches disposedabove said second ramp and having operators tripped by balls passingdown said second ramp.

9. Golf ball delivery apparatus as claimed in claim 3 in which saidtrack comprises an elongated tubular cage.

10. Golf ball delivery apparatus as claimed in claim 3 in which saidtrack comprises an elongated tubular cage including a plurality ofelongated rods secured to circumferential spaced portions of a pluralityof longitudinally spaced rings; and an abutment at the lowerend of saidtrack.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,049,776 Staulfer et a1 Jan. 7, 1913 1,937,180 Young Nov. 28, 19331,946,371 Walker Feb. 6, 1934 1,952,244 Grim Mar. 27, 1934 2,159,905M-oninger May 23, 1939 2,471,479 Coons May 31, 1949 2,520,952 -MozelSept. 5, 1950 2,639,919 Mozel May 26, 1953 2,649,214 Kirby et al. Aug.18, 1953

